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Monday, February 24, 2014

Egyptian autocrats struggle with soccer’s political pros and cons

An Egyptian government initiative to build more than a
thousand new soccer pitches to “keep youth off the streets” against the
backdrop of a rising number of clashes between fans and security forces and a
likely extension and expansion of the ban on spectators attending matches highlights
the opportunities and threats the beautiful game poses for Middle Eastern and
North African autocratic rulers.

A youth ministry official told Al-Shorfa.com, a news website
operated by the US military’s Central Command, that the government was
investing $93 million in 1,100 pitches across soccer-crazy Egypt that would be
built by the end of this year. An Egyptian Football Association official told
the website that the pitches would help produce a new generation of
professional soccer players.

The decision to build the pitches came as 25 policemen were
injured in clashes with militant soccer fans, a court sentenced 15 other fans
to two years in prison for demonstrating without a license in an earlier
incident, another court acquitted six security officials on charges of
responsibility for the death of 83 protesters during the 2011 popular revolt
that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in which fans played a prominent role, and
world soccer body FIFA censored the government for interference in the affairs
of one of the country’s soccer clubs.

The incidents reflect the dilemma that soccer creates for
Middle Eastern and North African autocrats. The pitch offers itself in
autocratic countries alongside the mosque as the foremost contested public
space that autocrats cannot fully control and are unable to simply shut down.
At the same, time it also creates opportunities for them, including the ability
to polish their image through association with the region’s most popular form
of entertainment, the possibility to distract public attention away from
widespread grievances, and at times the chance to manipulate public emotion in
their favour.

As a result, the Egyptian government’s effort to promote
soccer and use the sport to garner public support amounts to a double-edged
sword in an environment in which the return to repressive autocracy following
last July’s military coup that toppled Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first and only
democratically elected president, is undermining the post-Morsi military backed
regime’s legitimacy.

Egyptian strongman General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is widely
expected to stand for election in forthcoming presidential elections slated for
April which he would likely win with a landslide. General Al-Sisi has emerged
as a cult figure since he toppled Mr. Morsi whose Muslim Brotherhood succeeded
in barely a year in office to become the country’s most reviled political
grouping. The military-backed government resigned on Monday in a move that some
analysts speculated was designed to pave the way for the presidential candidacy
of General Al-Sisi who doubled as defence minister in the outgoing cabinet.

With the military’s banning of the Brotherhood as a
terrorist organization, repressive restrictions on the right to demonstrate and
freedom of expression, the killing of some 2,665 protesters since the overthrow
of Mr. Morsi and the arrest of thousands more according to human rights
activists, the expansion of the crackdown to include not only Islamists but
youth who were in the vanguard of the rebellion against Mr. Mubarak, and the
emergence of an armed Islamist insurgency, soccer has re-emerged together with
universities as a protest platform.

Like in the days of Mr. Mubarak, soccer evokes deep-seated
passions among a majority of Egyptian and gives disaffected youth an
opportunity to confront police and security forces, together with the
Brotherhood the country’s most despised institutions. Years of confrontation
with security forces in stadia and popular neighbourhoods has instilled among
militant soccer fans a sense of intolerance towards what they perceive as abuse
and mistreatment.

That sentiment is compounded by a widespread belief among
the fans who constitute one of the country’s largest civic groups that they
have been deprived of the opportunity to realize the goals of the 2011 popular
revolt that included a quest for dignity, social justice, greater freedom and
an end to corruption.

Fear of the militant soccer fans or ultras has prompted the
interior ministry to suspend soccer matches for much of the past three years. Moreover,
fans have been banned from attending domestic league matches since the
suspension was lifted late last year. Egypt’s worst sporting incident occurred
early last year during a brief period in which soccer matches were allowed in
the presence of supporters. 74 people, mostly fans of storied Cairo club Al Ahli
SC, were killed in a politically loaded brawl in the Suez Canal city of Port
Said.

The ministry this month delayed a decision to lift the
spectator ban and is considering expanding it to international matches following
clashes last week between security forces and Al Ahli ultras. 27 fans and 25
policemen were injured at the end of a Confederation of African Football (CAF) CAF
Super Cup match between Al Ahli and Tunisia's CS Sfaxien. The clashes were
sparked by the fans’ chanting of slogans against the police and the interior
ministry. An unverified video posted on YouTube showed fans beating an officer
with a stick.

The ban on spectators is proving in and of itself to be a
lightning rod that is compounded by the re-emergence of police and security
forces as an unaccountable a law unto themselves. Al Ahli’s Cairo arch rival Al
Zamalek SC was fined last month after the club’s militant fans stormed the
stadium during a closed door domestic match. “This is a state of injustice and aggression…
Those who confront tyranny are captured and killed,” the Ultras White Knights
(UWK), the militant Zamalek support group, said after two of its members were
sentenced to two years in prison for wearing a scarf with the words ‘permanent
revolution.’

Anger is further fuelled by the refusal of successive
post-Mubarak governments to hold security forces accountable for the deaths of
more than 1,000 anti-government protesters prior to Mr. Morsi’s downfall as
well as the return and rehabilitation of Mubarak era businessmen who were
either suspected or indicted on charges of corruption. This month’s acquittal
of the police officers was the latest in a string of trials that rights group
say failed to hold the country's security forces accountable for demonstrators'
deaths.

Said a militant soccer fan in a tone of disgust; “This is Sisi’s
Egypt: protesters go to jail and the police can do whatever they want. This is
what shaped us under Mubarak. This is what is shaping us now.’

James M. Dorsey is a Senior Fellow at the S.
Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological
University. He is also co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute
for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer blog and a forthcoming book with the same
title.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile